Notes from a Stylist at the TriBeCa Ball 2011

You've gotta love a TriBeCa Ball, run by the New York Academy of Art, it's a chance for the great and the good of New York - i.e. those with money, to take a peek at the emerging artists from NYAA - i.e. those who are skint.

The evening tends to pass buy in a jocular manner as socialites and celebs teeter around the tiny stalls that the artists inhabit by day - which have been lovingly spruced up for the big occasion. Whilst the poor artists are thrown in at the deep end with their first forray into serious sales i.e. they want to flog their work to you.

For celeb spotting there was Eileen Guggenheim, Liev Schreiber and Naomi Watts, Baz Luhrmann and Alexandra Richards. I did see Robert DeNiro's name on the check in list but I guess he had other parts of TriBeCa to manage that night. There were a plethora of designers - Rachel Roy, Cynthia Rowley and Kate and Andy Spade. Even Serena Shvo in the tiniest gold Herve Leger dress I've ever witnessed.

So what about the actual art...

We saw oil on canvas, prints, installations - including a bizarre brillo pad sculpture that could surely have recycling value should you run short of cleaning materials once you are bored of the picture. There were magicians and a rather annoying dancing girl who was sweating proffusely and roaming the 5 storey building being trailed by an accompanist on an accordian - I'm not sure if that was art in motion or just the entertainment.

And then there was my favorite - the people watching ....

For my bit I kept the UK support group going by purchasing a cute print from the lovely Imogen Slater - a Brit striving to make her mark in New York, who had very cute shoes on...

Lose your locks for a good cause...

Posted: May 19, 2010 - When I teetered off for my quarterly chop this morning at my local salon, little did I know that I would in some small way be helping the environment and fighting the current oil spill in the Gulf. Feeling a slightly grubby blonde version of Cousin It, and hoping some kind of salvage operation could be performed to turn me into a Jennifer Aniston lookey likey, I hadn't considered the fact that my coiffeuse is a highly politically charged environmental lobbyist in her spare time. I spotted a bunch of weird green bins around the Salon and when quizzed my Stylist let loose on the benefits of donating all the shorn off strands to this good cause. In the past a trip to the hair dresser may have been deemed a tad selfish (what with children starving in the world and people dealing with natural disaster daily), but when it's time for a hair cut you can now help the oil spill clear up process by having your sheared tresses stuffed in a nylon stocking. At Excess Access, they've been gathering chopped off curls for some time, but it's only recently, with the current crisis unravelling in the Gulf that their program is getting some valid attention. It seems that as our hair gathers oil on our heads, ergo it attracts oil any old place, even when off your bonce - the discarded locks are collected in waste bins in salons, transported to agencies working with Matter of Trust , then fashioned into oil spill containment booms and mats to be used to help thwart the impending environmental disaster. The bad news for me is that my enthusiastic Stylist has turned my locks into more of a pixie crop in her over zealous chop fest... a little less Jen and a little too much Agyness Deyn.... oh well in a good cause. If you liked this post, take a peek here for more from Notes from a Stylist

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Fashion for relief Haiti & other New York Fashion Week escapades

Fashion for relief Haiti & other New York Fashion Week escapades Posted: February 19, 2010 - Category: Fashion and Lifestyle For a girl who has hung up her heels, Naomi Campbell proved she hadn't lost that supermodel sashay the other night at the Fashion for Relief Haiti show in Bryant Park. The show hosted by Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, was pulled together in aid of the Haiti relief effort and featured a galaxy of stars taking to the catwalk. A series of looks that had been donated by designers hit the runway, some of which are to be auctioned off on Net-a-Porter. Campbell herself poignantly wore an Alexander McQueen piece, the designer (a close friend of hers) who was found dead this week would have smiled at these ladies working their inner divas in the name of fund raising. From Kelly Osbourne to Chris Brown, Donna Karan to Diane von Furstenburg all were brave enough to take a turn in aid of the cause - and bravery it seems is what you needed as poor old Agyness Deyn took a tumble twice and ended up walking in her bare feet to the safety of backstage. An interesting diversion at yesterdays NY Fashion week shows, whilst skipping from the Tents at Bryant Park down to the East Village to experience the "Green Shows", we arrived unfashionably early and were tossed out into the street. Curiously the green show venue did not offer a press facility, waiting area or indeed any wifi - not quite sure whether that is some kind of conscious 'green' statement kicking off against the media deluge that surrounds fashion week or simply bad planning. Either way, fortuitous for my blogging partner and myself as we found ourselves hurled into an Alice in Wonderland of vintage stores right across the street. It seems East 11th between 1st & 2nd Ave is a haven for all things from a bygone era. Flitting from one to another we quickly whiled away the 20 minutes and returned to the venue looking far less like media savvy fashionistas and a little more like bag ladies. I had forgotten that consignment stores do not have a posh carrier bag policy and anything you buy is unceremoniously dumped into the nearest plastic bag purloined from a supermarket. That said, the gorgeous 50's fur trimmed cardi with diamante clasp detail that was nestling merrily in my plastic bag was well worth the extra weight and will be getting its first outing (once dry cleaned - oops not a very 'green' idea) at London Fashion Week. So on to the green stuff - fashion hierarchy knows no bounds and with only a handful of viewers we ill found ourselves in the 'standing' section of a tiny showroom. With cool vibes pounding from the DJ we were getting fairly up beat about the show. Until that is, the music changed to a dirge and a series of sullen yet beautiful models trudged one by one down the runway. The clothing by Thieves was a predictable series of downtown urban looks in grays and drab blacks - I totally get the idea that green is good and sustainable fashion should be promoted but please - cheer up! I did particularly like the Smockshop pattern and instruction sheet that came with the goody bag though - am thinking on closer inspection I may well be able to add a little sustainability into my wardrobe for the cause, and create my own clothing from hereon in, as long as I can stick to smocks for the remainder of my life that is.

Posted via email from Big Apple Brits - British Expats, Anglophiles and Brit Culture Lovers New York City